Via blogs4God, Cracks in the Naturalist/Secularist World View:
There is no doubt that over the past 100 years secular thinking has been dominated by evolution. Christian thinking has been limited in its ability to affect Western culture in large part because they lost the debate on man's origins.
That era may be drawing to a close. I have reviewed a new video on this topic and I would suggest that those who don't believe in a Creator will have to re-think their position.
"Unlocking the Mystery of Life" is a new video that reveals to the layman a significant shift taking place in the scientific community. Paul Nelson, Richard Behe, and Dean Kenyon, are joined by other scientists describing their philosophical and scientific skepticism toward modern biology's view of origins. The breaking point for these scientists came at Pajero Dunes, California, when they came together to question Darwin's theory. For many, this was a bold act in itself, as much of the scientific community evaluates the orthodoxy of a scientist by their view of evolution.
The structure of cells, which are basic biological units, contain all the parts for a particular function. For example, a bacterial flagellum is like a small outboard motor. Without any of its component parts, it would be useless. Darwinian theory would suggest that these parts came together over time. Behe has coined the term "Irreducible Complexity" to describe a theory that suggests that all parts must be in place for any part to have any utility. In a bacterial flagellum, over 40 protein parts must come together to create the biological rotor. In Darwinian theory, these parts must come together gradually over time, and naturally selected over time to create the whole. Natural selection will remove unnecessary biological components while encouraging positive one. Obviously, irreducible complexity stands against this theory, as all components parts must be present to make the whole part useful.
Five years after putting this theory forward, Kenyon began to question his theory. In cells today, DNA arranges proteins. DNA holds the assembly instructions for the proteins. In the theory that Kenyon had put forward earlier, there would have been no DNA to produce the protein arrangements. On reflection, he realized that it was impossible for these molecular components to come together in the "primordial soup."
By the end of the 1970's more research began to roll in which suggested that there were many difficulties with molecular evolution. Genetic information was necessary for cells to be come into existence. The question thus becomes "what is the origin of the genetic information contained in cells?"
Statistical evidence, long pointed to by creationists, would suggest that there is no possible way that the original cells would simply appear. Natural selection could not have been acting before the creation of the first cell. Without DNA there is no natural cell replication. Without natural cell replication, there is no natural selection.
Evolution has been a scientific dogma that has not allowed researchers to think outside this particular viewpoint. People see intelligent design when we encounter an object that has an improbably arrangement and recognizable pattern. In layman's terms; somebody made it. Mount Rushmore is used as an example. We know that this monument was designed. Why don't we apply this same thinking to life?
I want to see that video! It'll probably be much better than the one PBS put out a little while ago...
Wednesday, October 9, 2002
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